Tupolev

TEST FLIGHT. Tass news agency reported Monday the first test flight of a Soviet airliner, the Tupolev 204, designed to be more roomy and efficient than Aeroflot jets now in service. Tass said the flight lasted 32 minutes but gave few other details. The 214-seat airliner is to go into service in 1990. The Aeroflot liner getting the most use now is the Tupolev 154, a model that has flown since 1972.

A Palestinian who hijacked a Bulgarian charter airliner to Norway Tuesday surrendered quickly at Oslo's Gardernoen airport and asked for a lawyer and political asylum, police said. The man commandeered the Tupolev TU-154 plane on a flight from Beirut to Varna airport near Bulgaria's Black Sea coast and released all 150 passengers in Varna before ordering the crew of eight to take off on the three-hour flight to Oslo. About 45 minutes after the plane touched down, the man gave himself up and was driven off to jail.

Russia is to build three experimental jet airliners powered by cryogenic gas fuel of the kind typically used in space rockets, a senior official at aircraft manufacturer Tupolev said Wednesday. Vladimir Andreyev, head of the overall project, said Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin had signed a decree ordering the construction of three Tupolev Tu-156 airliners in 1997. The defense and finance ministries are funding the program. Andreyev said the NK-89 engines would run on liquid hydrogen, which is ecologically much cleaner than the kerosene fuel that now powers the world's airliners.

Rescuers searching for bodies on an arctic mountain said Monday they had recovered two-thirds of the 141 victims killed in Norway's worst air disaster. The Tupolev 154 plane from Moscow smashed into Opera Mountain on Thursday just six miles short of its destination at the airport on Spitsbergen. Everyone on board was killed.

Russian aircraft maker Tupolev wants to concentrate on exporting its new generation of airliners to help overcome a collapse in the domestic market, a senior company official said Wednesday. Andrei Kandalov, aide to general designer Valentin Klimov, said the collapse of state carrier Aeroflot into almost 100 separate regional airlines had played havoc with orders for its new Tupolev Tu-204 twin-engined airliner. ''There are great difficulties and we want to concentrate on the Western market,'' he said.

Rescuers searching for bodies on an arctic mountain said Monday they had recovered two-thirds of the 141 victims killed in Norway's worst air disaster. The Tupolev 154 plane from Moscow smashed into Opera Mountain on Thursday just six miles short of its destination at the airport on Spitsbergen. Everyone on board was killed.

Two Russian mountaineers retrieved the cockpit voice recorder from a downed Russian airliner but were arrested for searching the arctic crash site, officials said Sunday. The climbers were briefly handcuffed late Saturday near the icy slopes where a Tupolev 154 crashed last week, killing all 141 people aboard. Most of the victims were Russian or Ukrainian miners and their families. The mountaineers were released early Sunday and allowed to rejoin the investigation.

INTERCEPTION. Canadian jet fighters intercepted two Soviet military aircraft off eastern Canada early Sunday and tracked them over international waters without incident, the Defense Department reported. The Soviet aircraft were identified as Tupolev 95 Bear Delta reconnaissance planes, the department said. Soviet planes regularly test Canadian and U.S. air defenses off both coasts and in the Arctic. The Defense Department said there was a similar tracking of a Soviet plane June 10.

At least 15 people died Saturday when a Tupolev airliner crashed and caught fire on landing at Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos, aviation sources said. They said the Russian-built aircraft, with a crew of six and 74 passengers on board, overshot the runway. The plane, operated by Harka Air, was on an internal flight from the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna. State television said 15 people were killed but other sources put the figure higher. The Russian flight crew survived, the aviation sources said.

The Soviet Union has acknowledged that one of its bombers entered Swedish airspace last June and expressed regret, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday. A Foreign Ministry official called the Soviet action ''highly unusual'' and said it might be an indication of ''a more flexible foreign policy under the new Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev.'' Sweden filed a complaint after the Tupolev Tu-16 Badger bomber flew in Swedish airspace for three minutes June 26 near the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea.

Two Russian mountaineers retrieved the cockpit voice recorder from a downed Russian airliner but were arrested for searching the arctic crash site, officials said Sunday. The climbers were briefly handcuffed late Saturday near the icy slopes where a Tupolev 154 crashed last week, killing all 141 people aboard. Most of the victims were Russian or Ukrainian miners and their families. The mountaineers were released early Sunday and allowed to rejoin the investigation.

At least 15 people died Saturday when a Tupolev airliner crashed and caught fire on landing at Murtala Muhammed Airport in Lagos, aviation sources said. They said the Russian-built aircraft, with a crew of six and 74 passengers on board, overshot the runway. The plane, operated by Harka Air, was on an internal flight from the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna. State television said 15 people were killed but other sources put the figure higher. The Russian flight crew survived, the aviation sources said.

Russia is to build three experimental jet airliners powered by cryogenic gas fuel of the kind typically used in space rockets, a senior official at aircraft manufacturer Tupolev said Wednesday. Vladimir Andreyev, head of the overall project, said Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin had signed a decree ordering the construction of three Tupolev Tu-156 airliners in 1997. The defense and finance ministries are funding the program. Andreyev said the NK-89 engines would run on liquid hydrogen, which is ecologically much cleaner than the kerosene fuel that now powers the world's airliners.

Russian aircraft maker Tupolev wants to concentrate on exporting its new generation of airliners to help overcome a collapse in the domestic market, a senior company official said Wednesday. Andrei Kandalov, aide to general designer Valentin Klimov, said the collapse of state carrier Aeroflot into almost 100 separate regional airlines had played havoc with orders for its new Tupolev Tu-204 twin-engined airliner. ''There are great difficulties and we want to concentrate on the Western market,'' he said.

TEST FLIGHT. Tass news agency reported Monday the first test flight of a Soviet airliner, the Tupolev 204, designed to be more roomy and efficient than Aeroflot jets now in service. Tass said the flight lasted 32 minutes but gave few other details. The 214-seat airliner is to go into service in 1990. The Aeroflot liner getting the most use now is the Tupolev 154, a model that has flown since 1972.

French soldiers shot down a Libyan bomber over the capital of Chad Monday, bringing more uneasiness in Paris over France's growing involvement against its will in an escalation of the war in central Africa.The bomber, a Soviet Tupolev 22, was blasted by an American-made Hawk missile as it joined two other Libyan bombers on a punitive raid of Chad in retaliation for Chad's invasion and seizing of a military base in Libya on Saturday.The violent exchange reflected the failure of France to control the military ambitions of President Hissen Habre of Chad.

A Palestinian who hijacked a Bulgarian charter airliner to Norway Tuesday surrendered quickly at Oslo's Gardernoen airport and asked for a lawyer and political asylum, police said. The man commandeered the Tupolev TU-154 plane on a flight from Beirut to Varna airport near Bulgaria's Black Sea coast and released all 150 passengers in Varna before ordering the crew of eight to take off on the three-hour flight to Oslo. About 45 minutes after the plane touched down, the man gave himself up and was driven off to jail.

French soldiers shot down a Libyan bomber over the capital of Chad Monday, bringing more uneasiness in Paris over France's growing involvement against its will in an escalation of the war in central Africa.The bomber, a Soviet Tupolev 22, was blasted by an American-made Hawk missile as it joined two other Libyan bombers on a punitive raid of Chad in retaliation for Chad's invasion and seizing of a military base in Libya on Saturday.The violent exchange reflected the failure of France to control the military ambitions of President Hissen Habre of Chad.

INTERCEPTION. Canadian jet fighters intercepted two Soviet military aircraft off eastern Canada early Sunday and tracked them over international waters without incident, the Defense Department reported. The Soviet aircraft were identified as Tupolev 95 Bear Delta reconnaissance planes, the department said. Soviet planes regularly test Canadian and U.S. air defenses off both coasts and in the Arctic. The Defense Department said there was a similar tracking of a Soviet plane June 10.

The Soviet Union has acknowledged that one of its bombers entered Swedish airspace last June and expressed regret, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday. A Foreign Ministry official called the Soviet action ''highly unusual'' and said it might be an indication of ''a more flexible foreign policy under the new Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev.'' Sweden filed a complaint after the Tupolev Tu-16 Badger bomber flew in Swedish airspace for three minutes June 26 near the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea.